Nature Features

One of the tiniest victims of the grounding of MSC Napoli has made a return to Branscombe Beach - but you'll be very lucky to catch a glimpse of it.

The Scaly cricket has been missing from Branscombe since the deliberate grounding of the container ship in January 2007.

The 62,000-tonne vessel was grounded off the East Devon section of the Jurassic Coast, after her hull was damaged in a storm off Cornwall.

A car washed ashore from MSC Napoli

Cargo was washed ashore from the ship, sparking a massive clear-up operation. The grounding coincided with severe weather conditions, which made the situation worse.

Since then, there has been no sign of the Scaly cricket, which is found at only three sites in the UK and is one of the rarest insects in the country.

The disappearance of the little creature sparked a search by the National Trust and, after days of searching, a single female was discovered by Adrian Colston of the trust.

"After walking along the shingle beach and drawing a blank I changed my tactics in the hunt for this elusive cricket," said Adrian.

"I set five pitfall traps at various points on the beach at Branscombe using cat biscuits, pieces of apple and a bit of my Cornish pasty as bait.

"When I returned I found that one of the traps contained a single adult female Scaly cricket."

The Scaly cricket was first discovered on Branscombe beach in 1998.

Adrian Colston's photo of the female Scaly cricket

This curious little insect is nocturnal and lives on shingle beaches feeding on general waste. It is normally found in the Mediterranean and measures up to 13mm long. The insect isn't around for long, with a lifespan of around three years.

The National Trust hopes the discovery of the female Scaly cricket is a sign that there are more to be found at Branscombe.

"This rediscovery has come as a real relief and it's likely a healthy population of Scaly crickets can still be found on Branscombe beach," said Adrian.

"They are notoriously difficult to find and their location away from the main site of the Napoli activity certainly helped increase the likelihood that they would survive."

As well as Branscombe beach, the Scaly Cricket is found on Chesil beach in Dorset and Marloe Sands in Pembrokeshire.

Explosives were used to split MSC Napoli, to help with its removal. A section has been towed to Belfast for scrapping, but a part of the ship remains in the sea off Branscombe.

It's hoped it will be removed in the spring of 2009 - more than years after the grounding.